Melt

Nicole Fawcett is my fabulous Hair Stylist. I went in to get my hair done thinking I was going to put red in and Nicole convinced me to try a melt. Good thing I always trust her because I LOVE IT! At first I wasn't sure if I could pull off the trendy melt or if I even wanted to, but Nicole said it would look good on me so I trusted her and went for it. So glad I did. Perfect for summer. Thanks Nicole. I have gotten so many compliments on my hair already.

Melt straight.

Melt Curly.

What do you think about it?

Flashback Friday 69

Today we go back to December 2004. My parents and brother came to town to take my little brother to the MTC. Chad was called to the Cleveland Ohio Mission. Doesn't seem that long ago, but now he is married and has a kid. It was a neat experience though. I had never gone to take a new missionary to the MTC before. I was so proud of him. He was a great missionary.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 122

Tonight as I was coming home from a friend's house there were a couple of cops parked and checking out a car. I was informed that there have been a lot of cars in our area that have been broken into and things stolen. I think that is what had happened. I tell you what though, it was just a day for me to see cops every where. On my way to work, I saw 5 or 6 cop cars (one was a motorcycle cop) and they had all pulled a car over and were all in a row. I have never seen that before. Kind of insane.

My manager let us leave a half hour early today. This was nice for a couple of reasons. One being this week has been crazy busy for me. Today was especially busy, so it was nice to just leave early. Of course that means I have more to do tomorrow but I just didn't care. The other reason why it was great is because I had gotten a call from my friend Liz just as I was about to leave work and she invited me to go to the pool with her. I took her up on that opportunity. I just love the summer. It is nice to just relax and lay out in the sunshine and dip in the pool. I hope there is a lot more of that to come.

I have been redoing my patio garden. I wanted a different look. Something classy. I have been trying to decide what to do with it and it has been hard and I have been working on it all week. I am almost done and it is looking awesome. I will post about it of course. It has been a lot of work, but I really love the way it is turning out.

At work, they have this little bridge that goes over these rocks that lead down to the cafe. Ever since I have been working there for the past 3 years I have never once seen water in there. Guess what they did a couple of weeks ago? They put water in there! I can't tell you how happy it makes me every time I walk by it. It is so pretty and relaxing and now I am always trying to find any excuse to go sit down there. Novell really does have a beautiful campus.

Can we talk about something that has really frustrated me real quick? Everyday I go to check the mail. It has always been fine and dandy. Well a few weeks ago my key just stopped working on the mail box. At first I thought maybe it was just jammed or maybe it was just my key or maybe I was trying to open the wrong box. After giving it a couple more days to fix itself (wishful thinking) still nothing had been done and I went on vacation and my roommates don't check the mail. When I got home from my trip and our mailbox still wasn't opening, I started to get worried. I called the post office... several times over the next two weeks.They kept saying the lock wasn't change and that they would fix it and they didn't and then they held my mail for me because I was afraid that I wouldn't get it and then when I went in to get the mail that they had been holding they said there was nothing there for me and to call some number. When I called that number the next day they said my mail was still on hold and they were just not looking in the right spot. They then said they would redeliver it... which they never did and I called again and they were not helpful at all. They said they delivered all of the mail that I had, but I know that is not true because we would have had a lot more mail built up from the past 3 weeks of not getting mail. Plus, the timing was bad, that is when we get all of our bills! So... I am going to have to call in to utilities and see what to do since I don't think I will be seeing bills in the mail. It is a huge pain and I am pretty annoyed.

So I think some of you know that I watch the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. I know it is a stupid show, but my friend Sara and I have fun watching it together because we make fun of stuff as we go. Anyway, there is this guy in my ward that is a hipster that teaches Sunday school and a while back in his class before the Bachelorette ever started airing, he said one of his really good friends was going to be on the show. I kept that in mind for when I started watching. As soon as he entered the screen, I knew which one his friend was because he was a hipster too. They even kind of look a like. Anyway... I don't normally dig hipsters, but he is pretty charming and Sara and I are rooting for him... not for the number one spot, but we want to see him stick around. Ever since I have started watching this show, there has always been someone on the show from Utah. Interesting.

My ward a while back started doing music night. It is pretty much an open jam session for whoever wants to go. This activity has been going on for a while but I had never gone to it... until today. It was actually a lot of fun and I think I will go from now on. I am amazed at the talent I am surrounded by. These guys can improv and play by ear like nobody's business. It was a good time.

Softball game this week was forfeited because the ward we were playing against didn't have enough players. Kind of sad. There's enough of us though that we formed 2 teams. That puts us at 4-0 on games that we have won. I hope we can keep it up. I was watching one of the other wards play last week and they were so funny to watch because they all played with costumes on. Some had capes, another had a Harry Potter cloak on and some guy even attached a veil to his hat. ha ha.

I got my hair done on Tuesday. I went in expecting to get one thing done. When I came in Nicole said "I have been thinking about your hair" which means she got an idea of something that would look cute on me. I love it when this happens. She asked me if she could do the melt on me. At first I hated the look when I saw all the celebrities doing it. Then I thought it was cute... but I wasn't sure it would look cute on me. Nicole said it would and I trust her so I let her do the melt. Turns out I really like it. Love the color. So glad she thinks of new things to do with my hair and that I trust her to do it. I am working on trying to get a good picture of my hair. I will post it when I get one.

Beach cruisers. I have been wanting one for like a year. When my friend Steph rode up to FHE on one Monday night, I told her right then and there that I was going to get one and it was going to look the same as hers. She didn't mind and of course we got Liz to do it with us. We ended up buying them last night at Walmart at almost one in the morning. Best midnight run to walmart.... EVER. Liz and I bought our bikes and we rode around the store on them and then rode out of the store on them. It was awesome. So awesome that we decided to go on a bike ride this morning. You know I was excited about my bike when I agreed to go at 7 despite how much sleep I didn't get. I really don't get up that early for anything. It was pretty nice though. Nice weather, we were all in scrubby clothes. It was a beautiful day and it really woke me up. I LOVE the summer. Seriously. I have been saying that a lot this week, but I really mean it. Can't wait for all the good times ahead on my Beach Cruiser. First Jay needs to fix a couple things on it though. I will be riding it around again by next week. I love beach cruisers. SO EXCITED!

Photo of the Week 120

Another Picture from the Channel Islands. Our hike at Sunset.

Summer Fest

On Friday late afternoon, Tara sent out a text to a bunch of people asking if they wanted to go to Summer Fest. I didn't even know what that was. Turns out, it is the fair... except you don't have to pay to get in and there are more booth type things like a Festival. they have the rides like the fair though. I decided to go. Why not? It is a very summer thing to do.

We get there, walk all around to see what Summer Fest has to offer us. Jay and Joel decide they are going to pay to go on a couple of the rides. They choose two rides that you could not say or do anything to convince me to get on. What are they?

Jay tried hard to convince me to go on the Zipper, but it wasn't happening. Tara on the other hand tells me that she goes on one ride a year (they are only a $1.50 per ride) and she tells me she wants me to go on one with her this year. At first I say no, go with someone else.... but she wants me there because she is going to scream. Let me tell you something about myself. I am not a roller coaster person. This is why I love Disneyland. They are all mild rides. Not only do I not love roller coasters, but fair rides give me the creeps. The people that run them are creepy and for crying out loud they are portable! They move from city to city. It just makes me uncomfortable. However... there is another ride right by where we were waiting with Jay and Joel for their rides. The Star Trooper. She asked me if I would go on that one with her. When I looked at the ride... I think it was slowing down at the time, so I thought to myself... that doesn't seem that bad. Okay Tara, I will go on that ride with you. She perked up and made me pinkie swear so that I couldn't change my mind. Now that I have already committed, I watch the ride again more carefully. It spins quite fast and tips sideways and it spins fast backward and then is slows down and spins fast forward. I no longer wanted to go on this ride. Looks like it was going to make me sick. Something you should also know about me is that I am a woman of my word. If I say I am going to do something... I do it. On the Star Trooper I went while everyone stood by and watched. I was trying to not show that I was nervous... but I was nervous, but there was no turning back now. I sat on my shoes because I knew I would lose them otherwise. The ride started to lift us up in the air and I held on tight as Tara and I look at each other and express how nervous we are. The ride picked up speed quickly. Because of the way we were sitting we went backwards first. We were spinning so fast that my legs and feet were getting tingly. We finally slowed back down and I wasn't sure if I could handle that again. We started to spin forward this time. It was better, but not by much. I still was all tingly and both times I had to watch the dad and his kid right in front of us so I could focus on something that was still and help keep me from getting motion sickness. It worked pretty well. However, Miss Tara has the worst gag reflexes already. Going forward was worse for her and she turned to me and told me she was going to throw up. I wasn't screaming on this ride until this point. I kept yelling at her to hold it in, that she could do it. That is was almost over. I told her to watch the guy in front of us and that it helps... I'm yelling this too her while we are spinning who knows how fast. She is still covering her mouth and starting to gag and I start to get really worried that she is actually going to do it... which would make me throw up and it would not be a pretty site. Thankfully the ride ended. The whole thing probably lasted 5 minutes. Longest 5 minutes of my life. It didn't look like it affected me too much and I got off that thing saying "never again". Tara looked like she was going to throw up any second and said "that was so awesome". Oh dear. The things I do for my friends. After getting off, Jay turns to me and again told me I should have gone on a zipper. Ha! Tara's roommate Jessie got a few pictures. It was on the wrong setting so they are super blurry, but I still had to put a couple on here just for the story.

After that whole experience, Jay wants food, so we head over to the food booths. They are all shutting down. We found out this is a GREAT time to get food. Where you are normally ripped off because you are at a fair, we got AMAZING deals because they were all trying to get rid of their stuff before they closed down for the night. We got free cotton candy, free sugar coated nuts, a large pizza for $3 and 3 scones for $1. What a deal! So we ate. Tara and I took a picture with the Domino's Pizza mascot because we thought he was funny.

After we ate... we walked around a bit more and then head home. We were hoping for fireworks, but turns out that was only on Saturday night. Bummer. It was a fun night. The next day my voice started to go. Sunday my voice was totally gone (got made fun of a lot), Monday it was a little better but I was still sounding very pathetic and today I have a voice, but it is still quite raspy. I guess I got a little carried away trying to convince Tara not to throw up on me on the ride.

Somethin Fishy

Back in my Riviera days I had a fish tank. I had some fresh water tropical fish in there. During the Winter... being on the 3rd floor, our apartment was warmer than most. One of the guys in the ward had a Beta fish and wanted to put it in my tank because he thought it would have a better home that way. I knew that Beta Fish were known for beating up and fighting and killing other fish. I didn't think it was a good idea. This guy assured me that Beta Fish could live in a tank with other fish.... just not other Beta Fish. I believed him and let him put the Beta in my tank. For a week or so it was fine. Nothing happened. Perhaps he was right. But then why didn't other people do that then? Well... one day I witnessed the Beta Fish beating up on the other fish. The next day the Beta had killed a few of my fish (the best ones of course). I punished the Beta by putting it in a cup of water. The Beta soon went back to it's original bowl that he came over in. The guy that put it in my tank felt bad and bought me some new fish. Of course the fish were not as pretty or cool. What did he get me? A big fat goldfish. As luck would have it, that big gold fish started beating up on my other fish too and I think even killed one. I don't remember it was so many years ago now. I decided the goldfish needed to be punished and I put him in the bowl with the Beta to see what would happen. Both of them bullies. I waited for a while for them to start fighting... but for the first couple of days.... nothing. Then it started. They started to fight. It seemed even at first. They were both aggressive fish. In the end, the Beta won and the Goldfish died. Instead of flushing the fish down the toilet like most would do, Monica and I decided to put the dead goldfish in her roommate's toilet for her to find the next time she went to the bathroom... which she screamed when she did find it. Good times.

I was telling this story to Tara, that is how it all started. She then told me that in high school and such she used to put goldfish that were still alive in people's toilet's all the time and that we should do it. We decided to do it the next evening. 

We went to the store and we bought 12 fish. Everyone kept asking us what we were going to do with them. We didn't really want to say, so we would just tell them they were not going to have long lives. 

We then took them to Tara's house and put them in a bowl and decided who our target's would be. Who would think it was funny and be good sports about it.

We first tested it on her roommate Jessie who was not home. We then went to my BFF Neighbor's house thinking of what we were going to say and how we would distract them while the other one put the fish in the toilet. Turns out Darrell and Stuart's door was open and they were downstairs and didn't even hear us come in and say hello. Two fish went in their toilet and we were on to our next target. That was easy. In between each house we would go back to Tara's house to get more fish. We would carry the fish in this mug and pretend that we were just thirsty carrying a drink around. It worked. Nobody questioned it.

Next house on the list was my actual next door neighbor's house (Steve, Jason and Geoff). Tara owed Geoff money, so it was the perfect excuse to go over there. I went with her and while she talked to Geoff, Steve and Steve's girlfriend Katheryne... I pretended that I needed a tissue and blew my nose in the bathroom while letting two more fish go in their toilet. About 15 minutes or so after we left I got a text from Steve. All the text said was "FISH!!!" ha ha... I laughed so hard. We also dropped a couple in Oliver and Joel's toilet, but then they ended up joining us on our adventure not knowing they had some in their own toilet at home. Next we went to a couple of shy guys in the ward and put a couple in their toilet. We were not sure how they would react. I think I ended up telling them because I got no reaction. Pretty sure it was a couple of days later and sure enough the fish were still there. All they said was "cute" when they found out. Last house we did was my good friend Sara's house. Joel decided that it would be a better idea to put it in the sink because then you have to fish it out instead of just flushing it. On our way out he realized that the water drains out of the sink and that the fish would die.... so as we were leaving he yells to Sara that she needs to find something hiding in the house and to do it quick and that it would be like a treasure hunt. Epic Fail. I think she still has her fish though. 

Meanwhile, with one of the fish we dared Joel to swallow it whole. You can get Joel to do just about anything. I video taped it....

It was a very entertaining night and eventually people found out it was us and we were very talked about on facebook the next day. I think everyone loved it. We are just creating unity is all. Ha ha. We had a good time though. The things you think of to do on your week nights with no plans... 

San Diego Zoo

After going to the Channel Islands with a few people, we drove down to San Diego to meet up with a bunch more people. First thing on the agenda for the day was going to the zoo. San Diego is famous for their zoo. I had never been before, so I was curious of what I would think about it. I thought it was a great zoo filled with lots of animals. However... it was too crowded, the maps were confusing (aka we got lost) and there was just too much there. If you walked around the entire zoo, you walked 7 miles. Don't worry, we walked the whole thing. In case you are too lazy to do that, they have bus tours.

Our group was so big that it some how got split into two groups. I didn't like this because I wanted to be with everyone. Most of the day I was going back and forth between groups. Group Separation problems. Thankfully we had Skifari to help us get from one side of the zoo to the other in a couple of minutes. Tara and I rode skifari like 4 times.

Over all, I love the Santa Barbara zoo more. That might be because that is the zoo that I grew up with... but I think I also love it because it is cheaper, more laid back, more beautiful and just plain old classy. Sadly our crooked neck giraffe that we were famous for died, but the Santa Barbara zoo will always be my favorite.

Bunch of random pics.

Also, although I love animals and I will always love the zoo, I think the zoo has lost a little bit of it's excitement for me. For example... Oh cool, there is a zebra. Oh yeah....  I saw a ton of those and tons of giraffe and a lot of these other animals on my safari in Africa in their natural habitat. Hey, I recognize that bird.... it was running all of the botanical gardens that I was at in South Africa. Look at those elephants! Yeah, remember when I rode one when I was in India? Good times. Yeah... I still like the zoo. Just saying. I think I was done a lot sooner than everyone else was. It also could have to do with the fact that I was tired at the end of my trip.

There were a lot of fun animals and great moments that we had at the San Diego Zoo. I had fun, and had great company... but I don't plan on going back anytime soon.